[Vision2020] Chas's Plan for Moscow Was: Will Moscow support Hawkins sprawl-mall?

[Chasuk]

I would support a new mall.  First, because maybe it would draw a few
of the restaurants that Matt mentioned.  I'm a t-shirt and jeans type
of guy (my pocketbook and my balloon-belly dictate this, not my
fashion-sense), so the prospect of trendier clothing establishments
doesn't excite me, but it might excite the Britney and the Paris
wannabes that I see on campus.  They have to graduate from the
thong-tramp-stamp look eventually, and it might as well be in Moscow.

Erm, okay, so this mall is outside of Moscow, but it will still draw
Pullman residents (including the Britney and Paris clones) in this
direction, to shop at Winco and Hastings and BookPeople and to dine at
the several appealing restaurants that Moscow does offer.  Maybe it
will even give ghostly Staples a little trade.

The jobs will still largely go to Moscow residents, who will make more
money working in Washington that this slave-wage state manages, but
they will spend a big chunk of it in Moscow.  If there is a decent
cinema in this mall, then I won't need to drive to the Village, and
might then spend my meager date money at Applebee's or The Pantry
instead of at Denny's or the Fireside Grill.

There are pluses and minuses.  I hate the homogeneity of malls, of
Wal-Mart, of McDonald's/Pizza Hut/etc., but I am a fickle,
impoversihed hypocrite who buy at the those places while hating them.

Here's what I would like to see in Moscow:

1. Put a multistory car park on the corner of 6th and Jackson, or
someplace else along Jackson between third and 6th.
2, Erect passenger overpasses across Jackson, maybe including one into
the Moscow Hotel, which has been gutted and turned into a mall full of
trend expensive shops.  Or quaint, interesting shops, with a few
restaurants.
3.  Pedestrianize Main Street from approximately Mingles to
approximately Gritman.  Tear up the asphalt and lay cobblestones.
4.  Build a huge roof over this entire area.  I've seen it done in
London and other places in England, frequently covering train
stations, and it can be quite attractive.   Anchor it from the
buildings on both sides.  No more inconvenience associated with snow.
5.  Install a slow, looping tram for those whose legs don't work so good.

People would travel for miles and miles to this enchanted shopping
area.  It would be preferable to another boring mall 10 times out of
10.

Chas